New Delhi, April 11: The Union Health Ministry said on Saturday (April 11) that in the absence of a nationwide lockdown and containment measures, the number of coronavirus COVID-19 infections in the country would have by now reached to at least two lakh.
The remarks were made by the joint secretary at the ministry Luv Agarwal during his daily press briefing on the evolving situation in the country.
“Lockdown and containment measures are important to fight COVID19. If we have not taken any measures then we might have had 2 lakh cases at this time,” said Luv Agarwal.
“India’s response to COVID19 has been proactive. We have followed a graded approach. At least 586 COVID-19 dedicated hospitals have been earmarked at state and centre level and over 1 lakh isolation beds in the country,” Agarwal said.
He said that in the last 24 hours, there was a rise of 1,035 cases and 40 deaths reported from across the country. He also stated that there is no shortage of the hydroxychloroquine tablets, which is being used for the treatment of coronavirus.
With this, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country on Saturday reached to 7,447 with Maharashtra being the worst-hit with over 1,600 cases. The death toll has risen to 239 with 40 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
